Mislayed Data
by Helena Valentine
Summary: Read and find out please! Pretty much about Data looking for Spot and meeting a weird girl though. Better then it sounds, I promise. If you read and review I will invite you to come on a trek through the stars with me once I figure out how to do that...


Writer: Ok, this just popped into my head while I was in the library. I might make an actual story with this character, because I personally think I'm good at writing about her. No romance though, Lucile is just a kid. Thanks, read on:

Disclaimer: I do not own any stars or any remarkable treks, so I do not own Star Trek. God that sounded weird.

Data was walking promptly down the hallway, staring strait ahead and mindlessly humming a violin song he had heard yesterday. He had been told he would have the rest of the day off, and planned on going to visit Spot for a while. Recently, Spot had taken to sneaking off into different parts of the ship and getting into trouble, so when Data had not found him in one of his usual places, he had began to look in some of the unusual places, ears always alert for the familiar padding of footsteps.

Presently, he did hear padding footsteps coming down the hall in front of him, but it was not Spot's, or really any other felines'.

A girl; one of he younger humans on the ship; came wandering down the hallway as though she could have been anywhere in the universe and still wouldn't know it. Her nose was buried in a book that looked as though it had survived every natural disaster that had ever occurred, and a few unnatural ones as well. Data continued walking forwards as he had, glancing curiously at the girl only when she didn't move out of the way.

In the last minute he realized she wasn't planning on it, and quickly stepped to the side, only a second too late. Her shoulder thumped right into his arm and she spun around (rather clumsily) and fell to the floor, her eyes opening wide with surprise and the book flying out of her hands. She let out a small "Oh!" of surprise.

Date turned and quickly extended a pale hand to the girl on the floor, saying as he did so "Pardon me, but you should watch where you are going."

The girl didn't look at his hand, but instead turned quickly around, searching the floor for the book. Data reached down and picked up the tattered thing off the ground, where it had fallen at his feet.

"Th... thank you." She said, shaking her head slightly and glancing around, as though she had just woken up. He saw her eyes close slightly in a confused glance as she looked around the room. "Where am I?" she asked.

Data raised his eyebrows. It was not exactly normal for people on the ship to not know where they were quite suddenly. It was normal for people to get lost, it was a very large ship. But this was a little stranger.

"You are-"

"Oh!" she said, her eyebrows shooting up. "Yeah, I'm near that bathroom. Ok." She turned and glanced at him. "Hello." She said politely. The book was clutched to her chest, almost protectively. Though she did not seem to be suspicious of him.

"Hello." Said Data "My name is Data. I work for-"

"Yeah!" the girl said, interrupting him. "Yeah, you work for Captain Jon Luke. I've heard of you. You're the robot." She said simply.

Data blinked.

"Whatcha doing out here? It's not like you important people to come visit us." She said bluntly and conversationally. She had a simple, slightly stupid, grin on her face and was staring strait into his eyes in a way that was almost unnerving. It was strange. It was a random time to hold a conversation, and most people gave their names before attempting to hold conversations anyway.

As if she could read his mind, the girl, not waiting for an answer to her previous question, said "My name's Lucile, by the way. And you're name's Data? That's a kind of odd name, you know. It sounds like it should be a name though. What do you think? Do you like your name?"

"In answer to your first question," Data started, before she could go on. Humans tended to forget their questions when they asked them all at once like that, and then were completely confused when he gave the answers in the rhythmic way he did. "I am here to recover my lost cat, Spot-"

"Oh, that cat? His name's Spot? I don't think I'm going to ask why, but anyhow, he's back here near one of the kitchens. It's one of the places he hangs out. I read to him sometimes, he seems to like it. I can take you to him if you want." Said Lucile.

Data blinked again. "Alright. That would be very helpful." And then he added as he began to follow her down the hallway "Spot does not understand English you realize, so reading to him is not needed."

Lucile laughed. Data wondered what he had said that was funny.

"You know," Lucile began as she walked happily down the hallway. "I really like your cat. He's awfully cute, and I love how he always seems to be listening to what everyone's saying."

"Spot is an especially good feline." Said Data.

Lucile grinned again. "You know how he always tilts his head to the side? and how he squints at you to show he likes you? And how when people walk towards him his tail goes up slightly?"

"I-"

"And he always seems to know when people are coming! You know, I think cats must be psychic in some way. They know when you're happy or sad, mad or angry. You know?"

"I am afraid not. I don't have emotions such as happiness, misery, or anger. So I really would not know what to say to such a comment.

Lucile blinked and turned to him slowly. She had stopped walking.

Data blinked as well. A strange sense seemed to come over him just them, and her eyes seemed to grow wide. They were already large, but now the orbs expanded and almost looked like dark glass shimmering slightly. And he could see his own face reflected there, much paler in contrast to her own darker skin.

"You don't have emotions?" she asked, raising a rather thick eyebrow.

"No." Data responded.

"No you don't have emotions, or no to me saying no you don't have emotions?"

"No, I do not possess any type of human emotion." Said Data. He suddenly didn't really want to be talking to this girl, not just because the topic of him and his nonexistent emotions was already quite old for him, but because she seemed to be taking all this differently then anyone he had ever met. She was strange. He had thought that at first, but now he knew it. Everything about her was strange.

Lucile made a confused face, her mouth parting slightly and her right eye scrunching up a little in her skin of her cheek and brow. "But you have things like wants and opinions, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes." Said Data after a pause. "I can in fact want things to happen after determining what the best outcome would be." He said.

Lucile blinked, and the mirrored image of him in her eyes was lost for a moment, and then she turned and began walking down the hall again. He hurriedly followed her.

"Well, that's the same thing then. You have emotions." She said nonchalantly. She turned her book over in her hands and began to read the synopsis on the back.

"Miss?" Data questioned, his eyebrows going up again. This hadn't been the response he had been expecting.

"Well, as long as someone has personality and wants and opinions, like being confused and not knowing things and knowing things and everything, they have emotions too, that's just the way it works. You can't deny it, and you can never prove it either."

"I am afraid I have to disagree. Having wants and opinions can not possibly have anything to do with the human emotions." Data said. He was beginning to suspect the strange girl was merely crazy. Inside his head, he quickly thought up a map of how to get to Counselor Troy's office, in case the need arised. He had never exactly seen a crazy human completely 'loose it', but he had heard of this.

"Well… do you want to find Spot?" Lucile asked thoughtfully, studying the picture on the front of the book.

"Yes. Of course I do. It is why I am following you." Said Data. "You said that you knew where Spot was."

"Yes, but why do you want to find Spot?" asked Lucile, glancing up at him again. He found himself looking away however. He didn't want to look at her eyes again. Her stare was almost unnerving in a way that was somehow dangerous but also completely harmless.

"Spot is my cat. I should know his whereabouts."

"Why do you need a cat?" asked Lucile.

"I do not need a cat." Data said, stressing the word 'need.'

He turned to face Lucile again and found her grinning as though she had proved to the world she was wonderful.

"See." She said. "You do have emotions."

Data was about to reply when Lucile suddenly ran forwards and scooped up Spot in her arms, clutching the book with one hand. "Hey Spotty! I bet you were looking for Data! Well, here he is!" and she spun around and dumped Spot carefully into Data's arms.

Spot crawled slightly upwards and rested against Data's chest, purring.

"Well, maybe I'll be seeing you." Said Lucile. She smiled a very strange smile at him, and again he saw his own face reflected very clearly in the girl's black eyes, but now Spot's own furry head was there too, a tiny mirrored image curved with the magnifications of her tears over dark color, Spot and him. "Bye Data. Bye Spot."

Lucile turned and walked down another hallway, opening the book as she read, and Data realized she was humming the same tune he had been humming only moments ago. He blinked. That had been strange. No one had ever done anything like that, just come up and shattered the words he spoke. Even if what she said only made sense in the strange girl's strange mind, it was still… odd.

He was… well, he was confused.

Writer: ok, how'd you like it? Lucile's not really a Star Trek kind of character, and she sort of seems like Clarisse from Farenhiet 451, but I did not copy that, I swear! I hope you all liked it, and whether or not you did I'm begging you to review. If you don't, it's bad for you whether or not you liked it, since if you don't review and you liked it I won't write more, and if you don't review and you didn't like it I will write more, so ha. Bye.


End file.
